It was Gatherall’s to the rescue this weekend when a puffin off the coast ran into some unusual trouble.
Tour boat captain, Al Gatherall, says over the last 35 years he’s saved seabirds from a variety of circumstances, usually removing them from fishing gear, but yesterday’s rescue was anything but ordinary.
Gatherall says he had some guests on board observing the seabirds that nest on Gull Island outside Witless Bay. That’s when a puffin fell from its perch on the rocks into the water below. He says while puffins are tough little birds, and can easily survive a tumble from the rocks, this bird was clearly struggling.
Puffins use their wings to “fly” underwater, but on first inspection it appeared as though the puffin had a broken wing. That’s when they discovered the nature of its trouble.
They got him on board and found his toe nail had gotten caught in his wing. He released his nail from the wing and he was fine.